Automatic mandrel for capacitor winding machines



Aug. 21, 1951 E. H. RICH ETAL AUTOMATIC MADREL FOR CAPACITOR WINDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 13, 1949 l M l lll.

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rl Il Inventovs: Eugene l-I. Rich, William l-I. Roberts,

` HIS Attorneg Patented ug. 2l, 19551 AUTOMATIC MANDREL FOR CAPACITOR WINDING MACHINES Eugene H. Rich, Pittsfield, and William H.

Roberts, Cheshire, Mass., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 13, 1949, Serial No. 115,436`

1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to machines for automatically winding capacitor rolls and more particularly to an improved automatic mandrel for use in such a machine.

In machines of the type described above, webs of paper and metal foil are moved from reels of the same to a position adjacent a winding mam drel where the webs are assembled in juxtaposition in a predetermined order with the ends of the webs in adjacent relation. The ends of the webs are then clamped between the mandrel sections to be rotated thereby to form a capacitor roll on the mandrel sections and the capacitor roll is thereafter removed from the mandrel sections to permit the winding of a new capacitorl roll.

To obtain a maximum production from such a winding machine, it is desirable to reduce to a minimum the inactive time of the machine. By inactive time we mean the time required to reu move a wound capacitor roll, clamp the ends of the webs of metal foil and paper between the mandrel sections and begin the winding of a new capacitor roll.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved capacitor roll automatic winding mandrel and associated mechanism to reduce the` inactive time of a capacitor winding machine and thereby increase the production rate of the same.

It is a further object to provide an improved automatic mandrel and associated machinery which may be relied upon to produce a correctly wound capacitor roll.

It is also an object to provide anautomatic capacitor roll Winding mandrel which may be applied as an attachment to conventional winding machines.

In general, our invention comprises an automatic mandrel having two mandrel sections arranged for cooperative movement to secure webs of metal foil and paper therebetween and wind the same into a capacitor roll, one of the sections being arranged ior reciprocal movement along a horizontal longitudinal axis thereof and the other section being arranged for limited movement about a vertical axis.

For a complete understanding of our invention, reference should be had to the following specification and the accompanying drawing in which similar members are given the same character reference. In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side view partly in cross section of an automatic mandrel illustrative of our invention as applied to a conventional capacitor Winding machine portions of which are shown in diagrammatical form, Fig. 2 is a top view partly in cross section of a portion of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1 with webs of foil and paper illustrated in Fig. 1 omitted in the interest of simplicity.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing, in accordance with our invention we provide an automatic mandrel I horizontally mounted on a table 2 and connected to a vertical frame 3 of a conventional winding machine. The table 2 and the vertical frame 3 are the only portions of the conventional winding machine shown in the drawing as the remaining portions are not necessary to an understanding of our invention. The mandrel I comprises two mandrel sections 4 and 5 of circular cross section and having respective adjacent tapered ends 6 and 1, as best shown in Fig. 2. Mandrel sections 4 and 5 are axially aligned one with the other in operating position as shown in Fig. l and each of the mandrel sections is journaled to rotate about a common longitudinal axis, as will be described in detail later, to wind a capacitor roll thereon.

In general to secure the adjacent ends of a plurality of webs of metal foil and paper, as indicated at 8, between the tapered ends 6 and 'l of the mandrel sections 4 and 5 and to provide for the automatic removal of a capacitor roll once it is wound on the mandrel sections, We provide means for moving the mandrel section 4 longitudinally toward and away from the mandrel section 5 and means for swinging the end 6 of the mandrel section 5 arcuately in a counterclockwise direction in a horizontal plane as viewed from the top of Fig. 1, and out of alignment with the mandrel section 4 as indicated by the dotted outline in Fig. 2. For a complete understanding of the structure of our invention attention is referred to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 in order. Referring to Fig. 1, one end 9 of the mandrel section 4 is positioned in a cylindrical recess III centrally located in one end I I of a drive shaft member I2 and is secured thereto by a set pin I3 or other suitable means to cause the mandrel section 4 to rotate in unison with the shaft member I2, To permit longitudinal movement of the mandrel section 4, the shaft member I2 is longitudinally positioned in a drive cylinder I 4 and secured thereto by keys I5 secured to an end portion I5 of the drive member I2 and arranged for slidable movement in oppositely disposed keyways I'I in the drive cylinder I4. A central portion I8 of the drive shaft member I 2 is made of reduced cross section to prevent dirt or other foreign substance from interfering with a longitudinal sliding motion of drive member I2 in the drive cylinder I4. To move the mandrel section 4 longitudinally toward and away from the mandrel section 5 a double acting air cylinder IS is provided and connected by any suitable means such as a yoke 2|), a groove wheel 2| and a connecting rod 22 to end portion I6 of the drive shaft member l2. The groove wheel 2| is rigidly connected to end portion I6 of the drive member l2 to rotate therewith. The yoke 2G slidably engages the groove wheel 2l and remains rotatably stationary.

To rotate the mandrel section 4 through the medium of drive shaft member l2 and drive cylinder I4 any suitable drive means such as a motor 23 is connected to drive cylinder I4 through suitable pulleys 24 and 25 and a belt 25. The pulley 25 is rigidly` secured to the drive cylinder I4 to rotate therewith. The drive cylinder ILl is rotatably journaled in vertical plate 3 and a stationary member 21 by suitable bearings 28 positioned in apertures of the plate and stathereto by a set screw 3d or other suitable means Fig, 1, or by other suitable means,

To rotate the mandrel section 5 in unison with the mandrel section fi, gears S8-5e are inter-` connected by drive shafts `48-@5 as shown in Fig. l and the gears 38 and t5 are rigidly connected respectively to the drive cylinder I4 and the second drive shaft member 33.

ture 45 centrally located in the bearing post 36, to permit a rotation of bearing post 3E about the longitudinal axis and shaft di! as will be hereinafter described in detail.

To secure the webs of metal foil and paper between the mandrel sections and 5, in addition to the longitudinal reciprocal motion of mandrel section 1l, we provide mandrel section 5 with a limited horizontal motion about a vertical axis through the longitudinal axis of shaft This is accomplished by mounting the drive member 33 rotatably in the horizontally positioned projecting journal member 35 and mounting the bearing post 3S in a vertical position on j mounted on the plate 2 is free to rotate about the vertical longitudinal axis of shaft 48.

To provide a limited rotation of lbearing post journal member 35 and mandrel section 5 about a vertical through the center of shaft a double acting air cylinder`58 as shown in Fig. 2 is pivotally connected to one end 55 of an arr-.i to, the other end 6| of the arm Eil being rigidly connected to a portion of further reduced cross section 62 of the bearing post'SG as shown in Fig. l.

Shaft i8 is, longitudinally positioned in a cylindrical aperof the bearing post 35, ride. on op- In operation the metal foil and paper are moved from reels of the same to a position above the mandrel sections 4 and 5 and the adjacent ends thereof are moved down to the position shown in Fig. 1. Mandrel section li which has been moved to the right is slidably moved to the left by the air cylinder I9 to lie in a position adjacent the ends 5 of the webs and on one side thereof. Mandrel section 5 which has been swung out of longitudinal alignment with the mandrel section 4 that is to the dotted position shown in Fig. 2, by a counterclockwise rotation of bearing post 3e viewed from above the mandrel is now swung back to a position in alignment with the mandrel section l and on the other side of the web ends 8 to clamp the webs between the mandrel sections 4 and 5 as shown in Fig. 1.

This is accomplished 'by energizing air cylinder 58 to rotate the bearing post 36, journal member vSSdrive member 33 and the mandrel section 5 in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2, the bearingpost tpivoting about the shaft it on the compression bearings 53.

To better secure the webs between the mandrel sections 4 and` 5, the ends thereof are tapered or otherwise shaped to form mating faces 53 and 5L?. As the mandrel section 5 is rotated counterclockwise out of alignment with the mandrel section li it is also rotated about the common longitudinal axis of mandrel sections il and 5 by the gear l5 turning on the then stationary gear '3G thus turning the mating face .53 of mandrel section 5 out of rotary alignment with face of mandrel section 4 which remains stationary. However, when the section 5 is rotated back again into longitudinal alignment with the section il, gear llt being stationary the same amount of reverse rotation of gear 155 and mandrel section 5 occurs and therefore the mating faces t3 and 54 are brought back into alignment one with the other.

In addition to maintaining a fixed rotary relation between the mating faces t3 and Sli when the sections l and 5 are moved out of alignment thereby to assure their coming together in mating position to secure the webs of metal foil and paper securely therebetween, it is also necessary 'that the rotation of section 4 be stopped at suoli a point that the face G4 thereof faces the webs of tape. Otherwise the mating face [53 of section 5 might not be brought into mating position with face c4 of mandrel section 5. For example, if the mandrel section l were stopped in such a position that the face 6d thereof was facing away from the foil 8 then the face E3 of mandrel section 5 could not by a clockwise arcuate swing of section 5, be brought into mating position with face 66 of mandrel section il. Therefore, an end 55 of the drive cylinder lil is made camV shaped, as shown in Fig. 3, and a stop member 55 operated by a double acting air cylinder 6! or other suitable means is positioned adjacent to the cam end 55 of the drive cylinder i4. In operation when the motor 23 driving the drive cylinder It is cle-energized, the air cylinder 6l is energized to move the stop member 5e into the path of a projectingportion-ES of the cam thereby to stop the drive cylinder lll in a predetermined position in which the facell of the mandrel section 4 faces the web ends 8.

Nthe right by air cylinder i5 thus removing the mandrel section 4 from the wound capacitor roll. Thereafter, the air cylinder 58 is operated to rotate the mandrel section 5 counterclockwise, as viewed in Fig. 2, in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis through the shaft 48. This operation places the mandrel section 5 and associated mechanism in the position indicated by the dotted portion of Fig. 2. To remove a wound capacitor roll' from the mandrel section 5 a stripping member 69 comprising a cylindrical mandrel rider 'l0 having a frustoconically shaped end 'll is positioned to surround the mandrel 5 and is connected by linkage 'l2 to a double acting air cylinder 13. In operation as mandrel section 5 is being arcuately moved out of longitudinal alignment with the mandrel section 4 the air cylinder 'E3 is operated to move the rider 'l0 forward on the mandrel section 5 to engage and eject the wound capacitor roll. Thereafter mandrel section 4 is moved forward to a position adjacent a new web end 8 and mandrel section 5 is rotated clockwise back into longitudinal alignment with mandrel section 4 to secure the new web ends 8 between the mandrel sections 4 and 5 and at the same time the rider 10 is retracted by the air cylinder 13, to its original position as shown in Fig. 1. The automatic mandrel f is now ready to begin the winding of a new capacitor roll.

One advantage of our invention lies in the fact that by use of our automatic winding mandrel the inactive time otherwise required to eject a wound `capacitor roll and begin the winding of a new one is considerably reduced.

Another advantage of our automatic mandrel is that it is adaptable to and may be used on conventional winding machines.

A further advantage of our automatic winding mandrel is that it provides a means positively driving each of the mandrel sections in unison at a predetermined speed of rotation.

A still further advantage of our invention is provided in that accurate, reliable alignment of the mating faces of the mandre'l sections is accomplished after a rapid ejection of a Wound capacitor roll.

While we have shown and described a particular embodiment of our invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variouschanges and modifications may be made without departing from our invention in its broader aspects and We, therefore, aim in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of our invention.

- What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a high speed capacitor roll winding machine having a plurality of reels for holding webs of metal foil and paper and having means for assembling these webs in juxtaposition in a predetermined and vertically disposed order with the ends of the webs in adjacent relation, a mandrel made of two elongated rotatable sections, said sections being rigidly and respectively mounted horizontally on rotatable shafts and alignable one with the other so as to be rotatable about a common longitudinal axis, a drive cylinder rotatable about said longitudinal axis, one of said rotatable shafts being slidably positioned in and keyed to said drive cylinder to effect rotation of said one shaft and said mandrel section mounted thereon, a double acting air cylinder connected to said one shaft to provide slidable'reciprooal motion thereof and said mandrel section mounted thereon within said drive cylinder and along said common longitudinal axis, a bearing post `mounted for limited rotation about a vertical axis, a journal member mounted on said bearing post and rotatable therewith about said vertical axis, said other rotatable shaft being horizontally and rotatably mounted in said journal member, a second double acting air cylinder connected to said bearing post to effect rotation thereof and limited arcuate horizontal motion of said other rotatable shaft and said other mandrel section mounted thereon about said verti-cal axis and with respect to said common longitudinal axis, tapered surfaces respectively on said mandrel sections adapted for cooperative mating with each other when said other rotatable shaft is aligned with said common longitudinal axis, means comprising a cam xed to said drive cylinder and a stop engageable with said cam to stop rotation of said shafts and mandrel sections in a position so that said mating surfaces thereon will face each` other and said vertically disposed webs may be received and secured therebetween, and ejector means mounted on said journal member slidably adjacent and with respect to said other rotatable shaft for automatically ejecting a capacitor roll from said mandrel section mounted thereon after the roll is wound.

EUGENE H. RICH. WILLIAM H. ROBERTS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,467,841 Cumfer Sept. 1l, 1923 2,199,603 Ackley May 7, 1940 2,205,171 Kile et al. June 18, 1940 2,306,466 Patterson Dec. 29, 1942 

